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References to the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Jasper Sitwell mentions Stephen Strange as a threat to HYDRA. This small Easter egg foreshadows his eventual appearance in the MCU as Doctor Strange two years after this movie comes out

References to Marvel Comics

The scene where Captain America jumps out of a plane without bothering to use a parachute is a homage to a similar scene from the first issue of "The Ultimates" comic.

Captain America's new costume takes cues from the "Super-Soldier" outfit he wore when he served as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the comics.

The elevator fight with the Strike Team attempting to take Captain America prisoner is a homage to the Civil War story arc when Cap refuses to participate in the government's plan to register all superheroes and S.H.I.E.L.D. attempts to take him prisoner.

When Captain America and Black Widow use the secret elevator in the bunker, Cap uses his phone to detect the key code, and enters 8539. This is the date of Patriot #3, the comic book which originally introduced the character Captain America.

Maria Hill's last scene is of her joining Stark Industries. In the comics, she served under Tony Stark, but it was the other way around as he ended up joining S.H.I.E.L.D.

The film's plot is based on the storylines "The Winter Soldier" (Captain America's new threat) and "The Ultimates" (SHIELD is taken over by HYDRA).

The Winter Soldier was able to match Captain America move to move and even caught the iconic Shield of Captain America. This is a reference to the Winter Soldier taking up the mantle of Captain America, an event which has taken place in the comics.

Anthony Mackie was unhappy with the modern take on his costume as Falcon. He wanted the red spandex look from the comics.

In an attempt to prevent spoilers and keep secrecy, the working title of the project while filming was "Freezer Burn."

Filming was done in Los Angeles, California, in Cleveland, Ohio and in Washington, D.C.

During filming, Sebastian Stan would walk around all day practicing his moves with a plastic knife because he wanted his movements to feel natural.

Captain America's uniform was altered from the ones seen in previous films, with a Kevlar-based ballistic component that would protect Captain America but at the same time function like a military uniform.

Filming in Cleveland began on May 17 and was scheduled to last until mid-June. It was concluded on June 27, 2013.

Cleveland was chosen as a stand-in for Washington, D.C., with the city's East 6th Street doubling as 7th and D Streets in Southwest D.C.

In several scenes, Natasha Romanoff wears a necklace with an arrow on it. This is a reference to her Avengers/S.H.I.E.L.D. teammate Hawkeye. The necklace was Scarlett Johansson's idea.

When Helicarriers look for their targets on one of the monitors there is a wire-frame model of formerly Stark Tower in New York now sporting the Avengers symbol.

Anthony Mackie's appearance in this film fulfills his dream of playing a Marvel comic book character. He wrote a series of e-mail pleas to Marvel wanting to play any comic character that would appear on film. Though the studio repeatedly replied to him that they will respond in due time, Mackie's emails caught the attention of Kevin Feige who subsequently offered him the role of Falcon.

Although playing a French/Algerian character, Georges St-Pierre speaks his lines in his native French-Canadian accent.

Black Widow mentions Operation Paperclip which is a real-world reference to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) program in which over 1,500 German scientists, technicians, and engineers (such as Wernher von Braun, father of the V-2 and Saturn V rockets) from Nazi Germany and other foreign countries were brought to the United States for employment in the aftermath of World War II.

The filmmakers originally intended that Arnim Zola transfer his consciousness into a robot and made an escape. This was scrapped for running time purposes.

A deleted scene explains why Captain America had to borrow his old uniform from the Smithsonian Institution: he let the STRIKE team track his new uniform to a basketball court while he went back to the hospital in regular clothes.

In Dr. Zola's lair, Black Widow says "Shall we play a game?" This was a line taken from WarGames which featured an intelligent supercomputer and a trigger to bomb specifically targeted locations.